The following is not an admission that anything discussed below is part of the prior art or part of the common general knowledge of a person skilled in the art.
Various types of surface cleaning apparatus are known. Surface cleaning apparatus include vacuum cleaners. Currently, a vacuum cleaner typically uses at least one cyclonic cleaning stage. More recently, cyclonic hand vacuum cleaners have been developed. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,931,716 and US 2010/0229328. Each of these discloses a hand vacuum cleaner which includes a cyclonic cleaning stage. U.S. Pat. No. 7,931,716 discloses a cyclonic cleaning stage utilizing two cyclonic cleaning stages wherein both cyclonic stages have cyclone axis of rotation that extends vertically. US 2010/0229328 discloses a cyclonic hand vacuum cleaner wherein the cyclone axis of rotation extends horizontally and is coaxial with the suction motor. In addition, hand carriable cyclonic vacuum cleaners are also known (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,146,201 and 8,549,703).